The Paw Presshttps://blainenews.org
The Student News Site of Catharine Blaine K-8
Thu, 21 Mar 2019 19:52:19 +0000 en-US
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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.1Should The U.S Pull Out Of Afghanistanhttps://blainenews.org/2397/news/should-the-u-s-pull-out-of-afghanistan/
https://blainenews.org/2397/news/should-the-u-s-pull-out-of-afghanistan/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 19:55:41 +0000https://blainenews.org/?p=2397The U.S has been fighting in Afghanistan for almost 18 years! It was originally just to get rid of the Taliban but it has turned into a massive war against many terrorist parties. public opinion is generally against the war in Afghanistan and according to the Charles Koch university “53 percent of Americans, and nearly 60 percent of military veterans, do not think the United States has a clear strategic objective in Afghanistan. Only 15 percent of all respondents and 23 percent of military veterans said the government does have such objectives. Fifty-one percent of respondents say that it either is time to decrease Afghanistan troop levels or to remove all troops from the country in the next 12 months. Even more Americans feel this way when asked about troop levels over the next five years. Fifty-seven percent of Americans, including 69 percent of military veterans, said they would support a decision by the president to remove all troops from Afghanistan.”(https://www.charleskochinstitute.org/news/afghanistan-17-anniversary-poll/)

NO, “The U.S. was never going to build a flourishing, modern, democratic society in Afghanistan by 2020. Our principal goal was to eliminate Afghanistan as a safe haven for terrorists to launch attacks against the U.S. In that endeavor, America has largely succeeded.” according to Jeff Smith of the heritage foundation. though not heavy supported by public opinion it is undeniable fact that it is harder for terrorists to survive and plot attacks on us with us military forces there, the big question is that if U.S forces pull out or largely shrink would the Afghan military be able to keep it this way or would the Taliban or other terrorist groups take over once more.

YES,” Professor Barry Posen of MIT has suggested that a US departure from Afghanistan would energize other countries in the region, like Pakistan, Iran, India, and Russia, to exert themselves to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a failed state.” that is a possibility but”I am not naive. I have zero expectation that if the US and its allies withdrew that somehow the various factions in Afghanistan would get together and create a stable, liberal democratic order.” according to that last quote from a BBC news article.

in conclusion, we don’t really know what would happen if the U.S pulled out, the only way to really know and if we rashly pulled out troops before conversing with allies it could go horrible and we could have another 9/11 on our hands in two years. But if we worked with allies and planned it well with the Afghan government and NATO it may go great for the U.S. These are only two of the many ways it can go, and with president, trump talking about fully leaving we may see one very soon.

Bibliography

BBC news

Charles Koch University

The Heritage Foundation

Military times

sources, charles koch universty heritage foundation, military times,

]]>https://blainenews.org/2397/news/should-the-u-s-pull-out-of-afghanistan/feed/0Pressure for Girl’s Perfectionhttps://blainenews.org/2912/showcase/pressure-for-girls-perfection/
https://blainenews.org/2912/showcase/pressure-for-girls-perfection/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 19:50:50 +0000https://blainenews.org/?p=2912Many times when girls walk down the hall at school, walk home from school, or even just walk around their house, they are burdened by the thought that their bodies aren’t good enough.

Girls are so pressured to look ‘perfect’ or to have ‘perfect’ bodies. I think that there are so many girls around the world who are forced, every day, to think that they need to look a certain way, or be shaped a certain way.

Often, girls convince themselves that they aren’t perfect. Other times, though, social and external factors make these girls feel as though they need to have perfect looking bodies. According to BBC News, a study conducted in 2016 showed that approximately fifty percent of girls, ages ten to twenty-one, feel as though their bodies aren’t “pretty” enough. Our modern-day society is so overwhelmingly strict for when it comes to what looks “good” and what doesn’t. This causes extreme amounts of pressure for girls to have perfect bodies.

So, what exactly is a “perfect body”? Well, society has shaped “perfect bodies” into a small division which includes being skinny, fit, thin, and more. But, let’s be realistic. There’s no such thing as a “perfect” body. Every girl or woman around the world is beautiful and perfect.

Still, however, girls get this idea that they need to look a certain way, or look different. This is commonly caused by social media. On social media platforms, like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and etc., there’s easy access to accounts that showcase women and girls who are deemed as having the “right” bodies. Seeing these people can lead girls to believe that they need to look like the models they see.

Another common cause of girls thinking they need to have perfect bodies are their friends, peers, or the people around them. When girls see their peers and start thinking they need to look like them, which shapes their vision into

Do I look good? As good as them?

Most times, the people causing this situation aren’t even aware of their actions, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Other times, girls are pressured to look a certain way, on purpose.

Overall, there are extreme amounts of pressure on girls and women to have a “perfect body”, whether we’re noticing it or not. This image has just become an engraved part of our vision and society, and it needs to change. There is no definition of a perfect body. There is no right way to look. All people are beautiful and perfect.

“I keep telling myself that I’m a human being, an imperfect human being who’s not made to look like a doll.” -Emma Watson.

]]>https://blainenews.org/2912/showcase/pressure-for-girls-perfection/feed/0Are We Poisoning Our Puget Sound?https://blainenews.org/2540/showcase/are-we-poisoning-our-puget-sound/
https://blainenews.org/2540/showcase/are-we-poisoning-our-puget-sound/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 03:16:25 +0000https://blainenews.org/?p=2540If something were to happen to the Puget Sound, it would negatively affect Seattle and its ecosystem. But how could something happen to it?

Seattle is a fairly large city with lots of people in it. This causes lots of trash, sewage, and other unwanted things to build up. So what happens to it all? Is the sewage sent straight into the Puget Sound or does it go to a treatment plant?

The short answer is yes, our sewage goes straight to a treatment plant in Discovery Park (West Point Sewage Plant). But how does it get there and how do we know that some of it doesn’t go into the Puget Sound?

Although for the most part, our sewage gets safely to the West Point, there have been reports of leakage. In 2017, there was a major leak of dirty sewage water into the Puget Sound. The treatment plant flooded, leaving tons of sewage with nowhere to go. The sewage went straight into the Puget Sound. Golden Gates Beach was closed for 5 days because of the spill. Luckily, the impact on the Sound wasn’t as large as it could have been, but if it were to happen again, it could have a very bad effect on the Sound.

The Puget Sound is connected to the Pacific Ocean, which means if we pollute the Sound, we pollute our oceans. Why does that matter? Our oceans produce half of the oxygen we breathe every day, and without it, the air would thin making it harder for both people and animals to comfortably survive. The ocean is the biggest habitat in the world and has millions of species. The more and more polluted the ocean gets, the more and more likely they are to die or get sick. As more and more animals die, the whole ecosystem collapses, leaving millions of animals in trouble, and many humans in danger of not getting the seafood that they need use for protein.

In conclusion, our Puget Sound is very important to Seattle and our Planet. Sylvia Earle said, “We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.” We need to protect our oceans and all of the animals in them. There are many different things that happen to our Puget Sound besides sewage spills. Trash is dumped in it, for example. How do we prevent overall pollution in the Puget Sound? Unfortunately, we can’t clean up sewage spills, but we can help by removing any trash we see on a beach, or in the water. There are also many organizations that you can participate in to help clean up our Puget Sound.

]]>https://blainenews.org/2540/showcase/are-we-poisoning-our-puget-sound/feed/0The Science Behind Boredomhttps://blainenews.org/2801/showcase/the-science-behind-boredom/
https://blainenews.org/2801/showcase/the-science-behind-boredom/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 02:31:56 +0000https://blainenews.org/?p=2801Boredom is a topic that has been understudied until 2016. It is a common feeling for most Americans and people around the world. In fact, studies show that people in young adulthood (around twenty-two), are less likely to be bored than teens. I know that, as a teen myself, being bored is just a part of how you live. But what really IS boredom? Boredom has been defined as a lack of excitement, a state of dissatisfaction, and a lack of stimulation.

Boredom is not the same as apathy (a suppression of feelings) but has in fact been compared to depression. While depression involves negative feelings that are focused inward at yourself, boredom relates more to negative feelings from a lack of stimulation to the outside world, not to yourself.

“I describe it as an aggressively dissatisfying state.” Says James Danckert, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Waterloo. Boredom may also make you feel stuck in a state of dissatisfaction.

Boredom is quite common for people who have ADHD; they get bored a lot faster than other people. It is also common for people with traumatic brain injury, and it may even affect their recovery.

How To Avoid Boredom

The key to avoiding boredom is self-control. “Those with a higher capacity for self-control are less likely to experience boredom.” Says Danckert. Those with low self-control are more likely to have some struggles with boredom.

The Benefits

Boredom isn’t just a pain that everyone has to feel at least once in their lives, but instead, it motivates us to try new things and explore. It has been referred to as a signal you receive that tells you to do something different and switch things up. Even though we feel boredom at least once per day, we still have much to discover about it. If we don’t there could be many negative outcomes.

Next time you feel bored, try something new and explore.

]]>https://blainenews.org/2801/showcase/the-science-behind-boredom/feed/0Seattle’s History of Racial Segregation and The Other Side of The Coinhttps://blainenews.org/2898/showcase/seattles-history-of-racial-segregation-and-the-other-side-of-the-coin/
https://blainenews.org/2898/showcase/seattles-history-of-racial-segregation-and-the-other-side-of-the-coin/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 02:18:46 +0000https://blainenews.org/?p=2898You may know Seattle for the free thinkers and open-minded citizens. At first thought, Seattle’s skyline symbolizes a peaceful city with citizens who see no color. However, Seattle has not always been this way, and the climb out of history’s darkness was troublesome and bitter, and most importantly, not completed.

For most of Seattle’s history, the city was extremely racially segregated through an act called Redlining.

Redlining is where white people (in the early 20th Century) could legally ban almost all races besides their own in neighborhoods like Magnolia, Capitol Hill, Madison Park, and Queen Anne. People affected by Seattle’s Redlining say, ‘’The real estate people would not show us anything north of the canal. That’s true, yes.’’

Interviews

When an anonymous Seattle Public School worker was asked on their opinion about Redlining and how it affected different races, she said, ‘’I think we are all, uh, one human race.’’ She replied with a hint of distress in her voice.

‘’Uhm, ok. Do you think you can elaborate on that more?’’

‘’I’m in the middle of a project right now.’’ She shot back. ‘’I think that there’s a better person you can talk to.’’

‘’Alright. I’m going to put you on hold now.’’ Apparently, It wasn’t a question.

The bad audio music played. Then ended with a push of the end button.

Another hit-or-miss call was made to Wala Realty to try and find a realtor to get more information for the article. With the help of a transfer line to John Deely (and a ton of realtor agencies who said that no agents were in the building, graciously wishing luck on the article). John said, ‘’Yeah, we have this law put into place in 1964 called the Civil Rights Law. It basically means that we can’t suggest real estate based on race or color.’’ He talked fast, and the scribbles could hardly keep up with his pace. He was thanked and the once-awkward call ended.

Aftermath in Today

Ever since the Civil Rights Act was put in place, the transformation of equality in Seattle was slow but determined. By today’s day and age, equality is considered a norm. People are able to be judged not by the color of their skin, but because of how they act. Seattle once was riddled with hate and racial discrimination but is now a city which celebrates differences.

Colorful paints decorate Seattle’s sidewalks with prideful rainbow colors. Teachers demonstrate the importance of black history. Women are marching around Seattle protesting sexism, and cultures from around the world are celebrated such as the exciting Vietnamese Lunar New Year in Seattle, and the Seattle Jewish Film Festival.

Seattle’s progressive steps to make equality a reality in the city was groundbreaking. However, just because Redlining was banned nearly 50 years ago, it doesn’t mean that the separation Redlining created has been cleaned up. Surprisingly, it’s still hurting minorities today. (Minority Description: In sociology, a minority group refers to a category of people who experience relative disadvantage as compared to members of a dominant social group). Neighborhoods that consist of African Americans, Immigrants from southern Europe, and Asia, were deemed undesirable. ‘’Anyone who was not northern-European white was considered to be a detraction from the value of the area,’’ Said Bruce Mitchell, a researcher at the National Career Readiness Certificate.

In the 1930s, surveyors for the government graded neighborhoods in 239 different cities. They went around color-coding neighborhoods with colors like green representing the ‘best’ parts with colors like red standing as ‘’hazardous’’. The ‘’Redlined areas’’ lost rights like getting loans from banks, mortgages were difficult to obtain, and minority families were deprived of property ownership, all because the banks were informed to not associate business with the people Redlined in Seattle. Racial discrimination in mortgage lending in the 1930s has shaped the demographic and wealth patterns of not just Seattle, but America’s communities; a recently developed study shows that 3 out of 4 neighborhoods ‘’Redlined’’ on government maps nearly 80 years ago continue to struggle financially. People who grew up in the red earn less today than those who grew up in any other zone that wasn’t red. It’s as if the parts that were marked poorly on the map are stuck in the past, locking neighborhoods into scrappy poverty.

To conclude, Seattle is considered a landmark partly for the famous companies who started out there, but also for the advanced ways of living amongst different people in society. It ultimately makes the citizens of Seattle better and more educated about the world around them.

Seattle did have a bitter history with racial segregation but has learned from the wrongs (along with most of the country) through the Civil Rights Act. Seattle’s changes in life were drastic and needed, and, over time because of Seattle’s painful history with racial segregation, became known not just for the views, but the breakthrough ways of living. Although Seattle has yes, changed mightily; it still, like almost everything, has room for improvement. Charging into the future, local activists must seriously be aware of the sort-of-back-to-the-future time bubble that less-fortunate parts of Seattle are sucked into. The sloppy mess that Redlining has created must be cleaned up, not just in Seattle, but in communities around the country.

]]>https://blainenews.org/2898/showcase/seattles-history-of-racial-segregation-and-the-other-side-of-the-coin/feed/0Elephants Can Stay Around For The Lovely Sound!https://blainenews.org/2698/showcase/elephants-can-stay-around-for-the-lovely-sound/
https://blainenews.org/2698/showcase/elephants-can-stay-around-for-the-lovely-sound/#commentsSun, 17 Mar 2019 17:54:50 +0000https://blainenews.org/?p=2698Don’t we all like the classical music of Beethoven? Do you think of animals when you are listening to it? Probably not, but a lot of these elephants that are old, injured, or handicapped in Thailand, find classical music soothing to listen to.

Paul Barton played the piano at the elephant sanctuary and surprisingly, an old, blind elephant showed up in front of him.“I wondered whether soothing classical music could play a part in rehabilitating elephants that have stressful lives,” Barton says. You could imagine an elephant coming right up to you would be frightening, but at the same time, incredible! The elephant was eating breakfast when it heard music for the very first time. As Barton played the piano, the elephant curled its trunk and held the tip trembling in his mouth until the music was over. The elephant felt really calmed. Sadly, it died from infection. But I think that the elephant had a great rest of its life by listening to the beautiful sound.

I think that playing the piano is a great way to calm animals with stressful life’s, hard life’s, or just in general. It is a great way for any kind of animal to be happy, because so much of them have not heard it before. There should be more of this at sanctuaries, and other places that hold animals. I think that most people would like to listen to music if they were an animal.

When you heard the term, “An elephant never forgets,” it’s true. The elephants won’t forget Paul Barton, making their lives spectacular.

]]>https://blainenews.org/2698/showcase/elephants-can-stay-around-for-the-lovely-sound/feed/1Polar Bears – Endangerment Reporthttps://blainenews.org/2653/showcase/polar-bears-endangerment-report/
https://blainenews.org/2653/showcase/polar-bears-endangerment-report/#respondSat, 16 Mar 2019 02:43:32 +0000https://blainenews.org/?p=2653As we know it, Polar Bears are dying off. The sad truth about it is that we don’t realize how bad our everyday lives are affecting them. The main cause of them dying is due to global warming. Due to us using gasoline, the atmosphere is heating up, causing ice to melt, which leads to multiple other reasons to why they’re dying. One of those reasons is starvation. Polar Bears are using 60% of their energy each day to find food. Some Polar Bears are using more energy than they can consume. Since most Polar Bears are using more energy than they can get, four out of nine polar bears lost 10% of their mass in an eight to eleven-day period. Seals are their main source of food, and make up 95% of their diet. Each day, the polar bears must travel farther and farther to get the food they need.

As most of us know, Polar Bears live on ice, and global warming is preventing them from getting where the seals are. That causes them to use more energy, as seen in the paragraph above this one. Since global warming is causing the glaciers to melt, it also makes it possible for Polar Bears to get stuck on a small iceberg like the ones you see on television. 14% of sea ice is melting every decade due to global warming.

You may be wondering, how can I help solve this problem? Well, there is a simple answer to that. You can donate to a well-known wild life funding website. The one I most recommend is World Wildlife Fund, a trusted organization that helps fund endangered or vulnerable animal species.

You DO NOT have to donate to help the Polar Bears. Since global warming is caused mainly by gas emissions from cars, fossil fuels, and wild fires, you can restrict your usage of cars, and electricity. If you do not already know, electricity can be made from burning fossil fuels.

]]>https://blainenews.org/2653/showcase/polar-bears-endangerment-report/feed/0Michael Cohen Testifies against Trump Administrationhttps://blainenews.org/2821/news/michael-cohen-testifies-against-trump-administration/
https://blainenews.org/2821/news/michael-cohen-testifies-against-trump-administration/#respondSat, 16 Mar 2019 02:38:50 +0000https://blainenews.org/?p=2821On February 27, Michael Cohen delivered a testimony that was a near fatal blow to the trump administration. The testimony occurred at 10 am eastern time, and boy, was it interesting. On one side, you had the republicans defending trump by calling Cohen a liar (one even made a sign that said “liar, liar, pants on fire,” with a picture of Cohen on it!), and on the other you have people actually trying to listen respectfully and ask questions. Overall, we learned a lot from the testimony, such as the fact that Cohen’s bank account was used to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels because it couldn’t trace back to Trump. Plus, Trump knew about a WikiLeaks drop in advance, and he inflated books to look good to investors and deflated them to avoid property taxes; I could go on. The bottom line is that we learned a lot about the Trump administration through this testimony, and it was pretty much all bad for him.
]]>https://blainenews.org/2821/news/michael-cohen-testifies-against-trump-administration/feed/0When Should Children Have Access to the Internet?https://blainenews.org/2673/showcase/when-should-children-have-access-to-the-internet/
https://blainenews.org/2673/showcase/when-should-children-have-access-to-the-internet/#respondSat, 16 Mar 2019 02:37:48 +0000https://blainenews.org/?p=2673At what age should kids have access to the internet? Most people know that the internet can be a dangerous place, as it is open to anyone anywhere if they have the right tools, which many people worldwide do. Believe it or not, the average age for independent and unsupervised internet use is a surprising 8 years old, according to csoonline.com. Whether that is on a personal device or on a computer, is 8 years old too young?

First off, how dangerous is it online? In my opinion, very. Cyber bullying is a quite common and real occurrence. Some parents may say that their child has not experienced it, or they are “too innocent” to do so, they may be right. But likely, their child has engaged in cyber bullying, either on the receiving end or being the one doing it. This is troubling, because most do not tell a trusted adult or caregiver. Even if they are being bullied, a child could feel like they could get in trouble for something they didn’t do.

Cyber stalking is also an issue. One in twelve women in the United States has been cyber stalked, according to cyber.harvard.edu. That’s approximately 8%. That’s almost as much as the divorce rate in highly educated couples, which is 11%, from en.wikipedia.org.

Second, should we take precautions in this? Is it really a priority? Yes, yes it is. We need to do something about the ongoing issues in our country, or death tolls could rise. Cyber bullying, just like typical bullying, can really make kids, especially adolescents, unhappy. That could lead to fatalities that truly impact our country. Death is a good a reason as any, right?

So, what age is truly right for children to be released into the dark, unyielding void of the web? Well, it really depends. The average age to get a phone is 10.3 years old, as usatoday.com says. Although, many phone owners that young have personal devices are restricted by parental controls. There are many apps out there that parents use to monitor their children’s every touch, tap, or swipe. Some other common methods of control are seeing location, setting time limits, app locks, even rating limits on television apps. These can be beneficial, as many parents are more educated than kids on the dangers of the internet.

Stephen Hawking once said, “We are all now connected by the internet, like neurons in a giant brain.” Nothing separates us when out in the web. It really is “world wide”. Anyone can access it, and although this is beneficial, this can be detrimental. Lots of people around the world know people that are on the complete opposite side of the world. But do they really know them? They are just words or a picture on a screen, with no notion to truth. Who knows, they could’ve found a picture on the internet and claimed it was them.

Therefore, the right age really depends on maturity. You could be a ten-year-old who is as aware and mature as a fifteen-year-old, but you could be a twelve or thirteen-year-old that knows as much about the internet about a nine-year-old. The point is, there are many things out there, and although that shapes the education and culture of society, it could be for the worse. So be aware, prepared, and skeptical, but remember that the internet is fun and educational if safety rules are followed.

]]>https://blainenews.org/2673/showcase/when-should-children-have-access-to-the-internet/feed/0Home Sweet Homelesshttps://blainenews.org/2846/showcase/home-sweet-homeless/
https://blainenews.org/2846/showcase/home-sweet-homeless/#commentsSat, 16 Mar 2019 02:36:13 +0000https://blainenews.org/?p=2846Did you know that besides New York and Los Angeles, Seattle has the most homeless people in the nation? In 2018, Seattle’s homeless population accounted for 12,112 people, according to the New York Times. With this amount of people, you could fill one fourth of T- mobile park, (formally known as Safeco field). The scary thing is that the homeless population is growing.

One reason why the population of homeless people is gaining is because the rents of Seattle are too high. Many large businesses such as Amazon, Starbucks, and Nordstrom started in Seattle. Therefore, the government believes many people that live in Seattle are paid over minimum wage, resulting in them thinking we can all afford the average $820,000 house. The problem with this is many people don’t work for these large companies; some can only work for a minimum wage job. Now we have many underpaid adults who cannot afford the average house, so they have to move to a cheaper home, or become homeless. We can take this problem and find a solution, such as lowering house prices, or creating a wide range of houses in order to fit the needs of every family. There are many other reasons why people are homeless, but this is a large one.

The Magazine states, “At the same time, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal, the Seattle metro area spends more than $1 billion fighting homelessness every year,” (Rufo 2). We can see many people are putting huge amounts of money to solve this issue, but nothing is happening. In fact, in 2017 our homeless population came in at 11,643 homeless people, which means the population has increased by about 4%. That percent might not seem like a lot, but after many years, the numbers will add up. You might be thinking, “Why isn’t the population decreasing if we are putting so much money into this topic?”. The answer is quite simple, we are putting money into the wrong projects. Many organizations persuade the government to give them money, but those organizations are making little to no progress in decreasing the population. In order to lower the number of homeless people, we need to look back at our past mistakes and improve our decisions.

In the end, one of the biggest ways to improve our city is pretty simple. With your parents, take a certain amount of money and put it towards a trustworthy foundation. Whether it’s a food bank, a homeless shelter, or even just giving a small amount of money to making shelters for the homeless. Wouldn’t it be great knowing everyone was in a safe, warm home at night, and no one would have to worry about food running out. If everyone comes together, we can all put a small amount of money into a big problem, and solve it! So, next time you see someone cold and homeless on the street, think about how we can stop this enormous issue.